Watch List notes:

FRANCE:LOT of 19 bronze medals from the Numismatica Universalis Virorum Illustrium series by Pierre Amédée Durand including the following prominent figures: 1) Gustav I, King of Sweden, medal by Salmson 1826, 2) Raphael, Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, medal by Caqué 1823, 3) Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, medal by Caqué 1823, 4) John Locke, English philosopher and physician, medal by Caunois 1821, 5) Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Florentine sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance, medal by Gayrard 1819, 6) Pope Sixtus V, medal by Caqué 1823, 7) Martin Luther, German professor of theology, composer, priest, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation, medal by Depaulis 1821, 8) Christian IV, King of Denmark, medal by Peuvrier 1823, 9) Benjamin Franklin, American polymath: author, printer, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat, medal by Caqué 1818, 10) Johannes Gutenberg, German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe, medal by Gayrard 1818, 11) Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish-Lithuanian military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States, medal by Caunois 1818, 12) Hernán Cortés, Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire, medal by Vivier 1821, 13) Tiziano Vecelli (Titian), Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school, medal by Dupré 1823, 14) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, prolific and influential Austrian composer of the Classical era, medal by Caqué 1821, 15) Joseph Haydn, an Austrian composer of the Classical period, medal by Gatteaux 1818, 16) Isaac Newton, English mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, medal by Petit 1819, 17) John Milton, English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell, medal [with ruff] by Vivier 1818, 18) Galileo Galilei, Italian polymath: astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician, medal by Gayrard 1818, 19) Nicolaus Copernicus, polyglot and polymath: mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist, medal by Petit 1818, all are 41mm and at least EF quality with many UNC quality, lovely group of medals from this historic series with some of the most recognized figures, retail value $1000, lot of 19 medals. Pierre Amédée Durand (1789-1873) was well known as a sculptor, a medal engraver and a producer of medals. In this latter capacity, no doubt influenced by the success that greeted the Galérie Métallique des Grands Hommes Français in 1816, he undertook in 1817 the issue of a universal series of medals of famous men, calling upon some of the best known engravers. In accordance with the regulations of the Ordinance of 5 Germinal, year 17 (March 25, 1809) and the Royal Ordinance of July 22, 1816, which gave to the Mint Administration a monopoly of the striking of medals, Durand had an initial series of medals struck there. These, issued between 1817 and 1826, have no inscription or punch mark on their edge. But Durand considered this monopoly an infringement on commercial freedom and harmful to his own interests and sought to have it repealed. When this effort failed, he decided to seek out a foreign mint, specifically that of Munich, to which he sent his dies. To distinguish these medals, it was decided to put the inscription MONACHII [Latin for 'in Munich'] on their edges. To my knowledge, no French medals other than those of the Durand series carry this inscription. Eventually, relations improved between Durand and the French Mint Administration and he again entrusted his dies to the Paris Mint, either for restriking from the old dies or for the striking of new medals, produced between 1844 and 1846. These medals have on their edge a punch of the French Mint (privy mark of the prow of a ship or a pointing hand) as well as the word CUIVRE [copper]. The Series Numismatica Universalis Virorum Illustrium includes more than 150 individuals, but if one takes into account die and edge variants, the total is more than 400 varieties.

Estimate: 600-800 USD